From the fixity of the past to the fixity of the independent

There is an old but powerful argument for the claim that exhaustive divine foreknowledge is incompatible with the freedom to do otherwise. A crucial ingredient in this argument is the principle of the “Fixity of the Past” (FP). A seemingly new response to this argument has emerged, the so-called “dependence response,” which involves, among other things, abandoning FP for an alternative principle, the principle of the “Fixity of the Independent” (FI). This paper presents three arguments for the claim that FI ought to be preferred to FP.

     

《禅林宝训》伦理思想儒学化探析

《禅林宝训》反复宣说的道、利之辨以及诚信等道德规范 ,在内容乃至形式上与儒家伦理基本一致。《禅林宝训》充分吸收儒家伦理思想 ,主张儒、佛融合 ,一方面是加强丛林自身道德建设的内在需要 ,另一方面是中国禅宗人间化的客观要求。佛教的五戒十善等伦理与儒家伦理存在相似之处 ,这为《禅林宝训》充分吸收、融合儒家伦理提供了内在理论契机。     

Touching the Spirit: Re-enchanting the Person in the Body

In this essay, we argue that touch constitutes a sacred connection between the patient and practitioner. When touch is avoided or overlooked, the enigmatic inner workings of the body are ignored as those aspects of the body that can be quantified and ultimately controlled are emphasized. In utilizing touch as a fundamental way of opening up space for the sacred, the practitioner affirms the humanity for both the patient and herself. Only by returning to the senses can practitioners resist the dehumanizing effects of machinery and re-enchant the health-care profession in caring for persons they have sworn to serve.     

Examining the Utility of the New Raney Vocabulary Measure Alongside the WAIS-III

Psychometric tests related to vocabulary assessments are, for the most part, restricted in their use by trained professionals and/or are costly. These restrictions limit their use, especially for research purposes. To circumvent these limitations, the Raney Vocabulary Measure was created for assessing vocabulary proficiency, specifically for research purposes. The measure consists of 30 questions where participants were instructed to choose the best definition of each word. The purpose of the study was to examine the utility of the new measure using the highly standardized but protected Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale. Results from the linear combination of the subscales revealed the significant prediction of the Raney Vocabulary Measure, with the Vocabulary subtest contributing most to the unique variance. These results support that the test examines vocabulary ability. The current results are promising as the test would allow for greater accessibility for researchers who do not have access to restricted psychometric tests.     

Ethnic enclaves and the dynamics of social identity on the college campus: the good, the bad, and the ugly

The effects of membership in ethnic organizations and fraternities and sororities on intergroup attitudes were examined using a 5-wave panel study at a major, multiethnic university. The results showed that these effects were similar for both minority and White students. Membership in ethnic student organizations for minorities and Greek organizations for Whites was anteceded by the degree of one's ethnic identity, and the effects of membership in these groups were similar, although not identical, for both White and minority students. These effects included an increased sense of ethnic victimization and a decreased sense of common identity and social inclusiveness. Consistent with social identity theory, at least a portion of these effects were mediated by social identity among both White and minority students.     

Sanctity of the Body and the Relational Paradigm

The individual is in constant interaction with others from birth onwards. The primary experience evolves from the innate need for bodily touch and connection, which form the foundation for the psychobiological structure of the individual. The body’s anatomy is made to yearn for another, for building a home with the body of another. This makes the body the focal instrument, which is discernible already in the mother–child relationship, as well as later in male–female or husband–wife relationships. The body thus provides the most sacred space, and deep within it carries a natural yearning for another, for having a relationship with another. Relationships are the means through which the body can come to full realization.     

Gender Differences in the Construct Validity of the Silencing the Self Scale

Gender differences in the construct validity of Jack's (1991) Silencing the Self Scale (STSS) were assessed using 187 female and 169 male undergraduates. Results of exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses revealed gender differences in the scale's latent structure and at best provided only limited support for the validity of the scale's four subscales for women. Among men, the studies exposed a weakness in the scale's construct validity and provided insights into possible alternative interpretations made by men when responding to the scale's items. Convergent and discriminant validity of the scale were assessed by correlating it with measures of neuroticism and attachment. Whereas the construct validity of the STSS for use with women was supported, evidence was weaker for men. For men, data suggest that the STSS, in part, taps a motive to avoid intimacy and relationship situations that limit one's sense of independence and autonomy, a construct incongruous with Jack's notion of self-silencing.     

Gender differences on the WPPSI, the WISC-R, and the WPPSI-R

The WPPSI, WISC-R, and WPPSI-R were administered in a counterbalanced design to 72 children between the ages of 5 years, 10 months, 16 days, and 6 years, 7 months, and 15 days to test the hypothesis that mean verbal IQs on these scales would be higher for boys than for girls. Results indicated that the mean verbal IQs for boys were significantly (p<.05) higher than those for girls on all three scales. Also, significant (p<.05) differences favoring boys were found onVocabulary andComprehension subtests on all three scales. These differences are probably a peculiarity of these scales and may not need any elaborate theoretical explanation. However, clinical uses of verbal and performance IQ discrepancies may not justifiably ignore the examinees’ gender.     

On the Psychology of the Uncertain Self and the Integration of the Worldview Defense Zoo

In this paper, I focus on two issues raised against the uncertainty management model that I proposed. The first issue has to do with the need for deeper insight into psychological processes instigated by uncertainty concerns, including the possibility of positive responses to uncertainty. The second issue revolves around the question to what extent uncertainty management is the core motive (vs. a core motive) of worldview defense and sense-making. By discussing these two issues, I hope to (a) make my view on uncertainty management processes clearer, (b) note explicitly that I was advocating a core motive of worldview defense (not the core motive), and (c) propose a research agenda for future research. I end the article with a plea for research studies that focus on moderators of worldview defense motives. These moderator studies may help to integrate the large variety of core motives proposed in the literature to underlie worldview defense strategies.     

Correlations Between the MMPI and the Scale for the Assessment of Positive Symptoms and the Scale for the Assessment of Negative Symptoms in Schizophrenic Patients

Our study examined the relationship between the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) and the Scale for the Assessment of Positive Symptoms (SAPS; Andreason, 1984) and the Scale for the Assessment of Negative Symptoms (SANS, Andreason, 1983) in patients who met the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (3rd ed., rev.; American Psychiatric Association, 1987) diagnostic criteria for schizophrenia (n = 125). A significant correlation was found between the SAPS Delusions scale and Scale 6 (Paranoia), the SAPS Positive Thought Disorder Scale and Scale F (Infrequency), and the SAPS Positive Thought Disorder and Scale 9 (Hypomania). Additional analysis also shows, however, that severity of symptoms was the best predictor of MMPI scores. Consistent with previous studies, the MMPI appears useful for screening but not for the detailed evaluation of symptomatology of schizophrenic patients.     

Civic engagement and the possibility of the political

During the last half a century, civil rights movements have been led by people of faith even as they have marched in different directions. Some spoke out for the status quo while others demanded a different vision of justice, some for peace and others for war, for a violence-free life for women and against it. The issues and partisans shift, particularly as the relationship between state and church, faith and politics, has varied from one country to the next. Participation is dangerous, but even more so are inaction, withdrawal, obedience. This issue of Dialog takes another look at the history, philosophy, and practice of Christians.     

Changing the affective valence of the stimulus items influences the IAT by re-defining the category labels

The Implicit Association Test (IAT; Greenwald, McGhee, & Schwartz, 1998) is a computer-based categorization task that measures concept association strengths. Greenwald et al. (1998) demonstrated that participants completed the categorizations more quickly when pleasant and flower shared a response key than when pleasant and insect shared a response key, and when pleasant and White shared a response key than when pleasant and Black shared a response key. In Study 1, we reversed the typical IAT effect for flowers and insects, and eliminated the typical IAT effect for White and Black, by changing the affective valence of the stimulus items. In Study 2, we replicated the reversibility effect for an animal and plant IAT, and supported a category re-definition hypothesis. Our results have implications for understanding the IAT, and suggest that the IAT not only measures stereotypic responses, but can also be influenced by individuating information of the stimulus items.     

Gender differences on the WPPSI,the WISC-R,and the WPPSI-R

The WPPSI, WISC-R, and WPPSI-R were administered in a counterbalanced design to 72 children between the ages of 5 years, 10 months, 16 days, and 6 years, 7 months, and 15 days to test the hypothesis that mean verbal IQs on these scales would be higher for boys than for girls. Results indicated that the mean verbal IQs for boys were significantly (p<.05) higher than those for girls on all three scales. Also, significant (p<.05) differences favoring boys were found onVocabulary andComprehension subtests on all three scales. These differences are probably a peculiarity of these scales and may not need any elaborate theoretical explanation. However, clinical uses of verbal and performance IQ discrepancies may not justifiably ignore the examinees’ gender.     

Spare the rod and spoil the icon

Short-term visual storage was investigated with a successive field paradigm, so that correct performance depended upon combining visual information from two targets that were never on simultaneously. In the first two experiments, the stimuli consisted of two slides, each containing a 10' red dot on a gray surround, and separated by an interstimulus interval (ISI) from 20 to 400 msec. Subjects had to determine if the dots were vertically or horizontally aligned. In Experiment 1, the stimuli had either no contrast for the rods or no luminance contrast for the cones or high contrast. At short ISIs the cone contrast determined performance, whereas at long ISIs the rod contrast determined performance. In fact, when the dots were invisible to the rods, the task was impossible for long ISIs. In Experiment 2, performance was compared for zero log rod contrast and for small departures from zero. Even a small departure from zero log rod contrast resulted in above-chance performance. In Experiment 3, the stimuli were luminous rectangles and the task was to decide whether or not a 4' spatial gap was present between the two successively presented rectangles. Wavelength, luminance, and ISI were varied under both photopic and scotopic adapting conditions. The result was that the rods performed the task for ISIs of 150 msec or longer under scotopic conditions and under the photopic conditions that we were able to test. The results of the experiments taken together are consistent with the hypothesis that the cone icon is short, whereas the rod icon is robust and long lasting.     

Testing the dimensionality of the self-consciousness scales

The self-consciousness scale of Fenigstein, Scheier, and Buss (1975) was subjected to internal and external consistency tests based on the classical test theory model. The scale was found to have five underlying dimensions: two for private self-consciousness (viz., self-reflectiveness and internal state awareness), two for public self-consciousness, and one for social anxiety. The confirmatory factor analysis procedures employed by Burnkrant and Page (1984) are shown to be fallible as indicators of unidimensionality. Theoretical implications of newly identified dimensions in the public self-consciousness subscale are discussed.     

Discerning the Signs of the Times

This article offers a close reading of the six reports from the 4th Assembly of the WCC in Uppsala 1968. The assembly was keenly in tune with the worldwide upheavals of the year. It indeed sought to discern the signs of the time and produced a number of creative suggestions, for example by emphasizing the aspect of inclusiveness in catholicity, by stressing the multilateral dimension of mission, and not least by highlighting the churches' inherent responsibility to be agents of justice and peace in a fractured world. Uppsala 1968 proved to name in a prophetic way crucial issues that remain on the agenda for worldwide Christianity: class, economy, isolationism, racism, the arms race. But today the churches are also confronted with new and renewed issues such as post‐colonialism, migration, ecology, gender, and a theological grounding of the church‐s existence in the world. The article concludes by proposing table fellowship as a possibility for such theological grounding.     

A note on the computation of the second-order derivatives of the elementary symmetric functions in the rasch model

Jansen (1984) gave explicit formulas for the computation of the second-order derivatives of the elementary symmetric functions. But they are only applicable to those pairs of items which have unequal parameters. It is shown here that for equal parameters similar explicit formulas do exist, too, facilitating the application of the Newton-Raphson procedure to estimate the parameters in the Rasch model and related models according to the conditional maximum likelihood principle.The author wishes to thank the reviewers for their helpful comments on an earlier draft of this paper.     

On the Substitutability of the Third-Person Perception

The prevailing explanation for the Third-Person Perception (TPP) argues that people perceive that others are more influenced by the mass media than themselves in order to maintain a positive self image. If the TPP is indeed a self-preserving bias, then according to psychological research, it should be substitutable with other self-preserving mechanisms. However, past attempts to reduce the TPP after affirming the self have by and large failed. The studies reported in this paper extend these past attempts in two important ways. First, unlike past research that focused on cross-domain substitutability, we test for the substitutability of the TPP within a specific self-domain. Second, unlike past research that manipulated state self-esteem and measured the impact on subsequent TPPs, we also test for the opposite type of substitutability, namely for the impact of the TPP on subsequent self-maintenance mechanisms. Overall, the findings suggest that the TPP is partly substitutable with other self-preserving mechanisms, but this substitutability takes place only within a specific self-domain.     

On the nature of the plural self

In a sample of 100 college students, those with a higher score on a measure of having a plural self-concept scored higher on a test of self-monitoring and lower on a test of tolerance for ambiguity, but variance accounted for is small.